Check out this miniature edition of Ticket to Ride from @days_of_wonder that retailers can get to demo the game. Mini-TtR? Hmm… —WEM pic.twitter.com/hsl8enCiqn
— BoardGameGeek (@BoardGameGeek) February 18, 2018
Turns out that this miniature version of Ticket to Ride has been extremely popular with the retail circuit, not to mention those non-retailers who have run across it, and now designer Alan R. Moon and publisher Days of Wonder are bringing this bite-sized version of TtR to market in the form of Ticket to Ride: New York:
Each player starts with a supply of 15 taxis, two transportation cards in hand, and one or two destination tickets that show locations in Manhattan. On a turn, you either draw two transportation cards from the deck or the display of five face-up cards (or you take one face-up taxi, which counts as all six colors in the game); or you claim a route on the board by discarding cards that match the color of the route being claimed (with any set of cards allowing you to claim a gray route); or you draw two destination tickets and keep at least one of them.
Players take turns until someone has no more than two taxis in their supply, then each player takes one final turn, including the player who triggered the end of the game. Players then sum their points, scoring points for the routes that they've claimed during the game, the destination tickets that they've completed (by connecting the two locations on a ticket by a continuous line of their taxis), and the tourist attractions that they've reached with their taxis. You lose points for any uncompleted destination tickets, then whoever has the high score wins!
Ticket to Ride: New York is for 2-4 players with a playing time of 10-15 minutes, and it carries a $20/€20 MSRP. In the U.S., this title will be available exclusively from the Target retail chain starting in July 2018, but it will also be available for purchase elsewhere in North America and Europe at this time.
Given the small size and price point of this game, I can easily imagine Days of Wonder creating loads of other versions of Ticket to Ride for cities around the world. Visit souvenir shops at all the major cities of the world to being home a new version! Then create rules to link them all to transform the experience into a 30-60 minute game! The circle will be complete...